Reuters, 24/07 14:40 CET
By Francesco Guarascio and Lefteris Papadimas
BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) –
Talks on tying up a new bailout deal for Greece failed to start on
Friday as had been expected, with officials blaming security worries for
delaying the negotiations with international creditors who are detested
by many Greeks.
Greek government officials had said this week that the
talks on the third bailout programme worth up to 86 billion euros (£60.8
billion) would start in Athens on Friday.
But representatives of Greece’s creditor institutions – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and IMF
– said they cannot begin until the right location is found, given the
talks’ sensitivity and the wide public anger about austerity policies
imposed under the first two bailouts.
“There are some logistical issues to solve, notably
security-wise,” a European Commission official said. “Several options
are on the table,” the official said, without giving more details.
The Greek parliament has already approved two packages of
reform measures, a prerequisite for starting the formal negotiations to
hammer out details of the new bailout.
However, another source close to the talks said Greece
had been asked to do more on reforms before top international officials
could come to Athens.
The government of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
held five months of acrimonious talks with the creditors before they
finally offered to start talks on a new bailout – and only after the
government missed a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund
and had to close local banks for three weeks.
Full article available here: Security Worries
Source: Euronews
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